Previous Projects

Antecedents of shared leadership: Team cognitions and diversity

Background and goals

Following calls in the extant literature (Denis, Langley, & Sergi, 2012), this project investigates the role of team cognitions, in the form of transactive memory systems, on shared leadership. Shared leadership has been shown to be positively related to a number of desirable team outcomes (D'Innocenzo, Mathieu, & Kukenberger, 2014; Nicolaides et al., 2014; Wang, Waldman, & Zhang, 2014), however research into the antecedent conditions is still in the early stages of research. Following a systematic review of extant literature, team cognitions have been identified as one promising avenue for further research, while we additionally aim to include the role of team diversity in order to explain how a sharing of leadership can be achieved following distributed expert knowledge within the team. On the outcome side, we follow extant literature by included team performance and innovation, which have already been shown to be positively influenced by higher levels of shared leadership. Furthermore, we contend that shared leadership should be considered as extra job demands and could lead to both job ambiguity and role conflict, two main contributors of perceived stress in teams. Thus, we contend that shared leadership might lead to higher levels of stress within teams.

We also investigate several moderating conditions. First, following calls from research on the diversity, the saliency of diversity will be included as a moderator since in theory, diversity can cause both better information processing as well as categorization effects which are considered detrimental to team performance (van Knippenberg, De Dreu, & Homan, 2004). Second, we investigate the interaction between formal and shared leadership by including the moderating effect of vertical empowering leadership on the relationship between transactive memory systems and shared leadership. Third, we include information sharing within the team as a moderator, which supports the formation of transactive memory systems from the diverse knowledge of the team members. Lastly, whether shared leadership leads to higher levels of performance and innovation might be dependent on team member’s willingness to further team goals, which in turn could be dependent on levels of team commitment. Hence, team commitment is included as another moderator of the relationship between shared leadership and the outcomes of team performance and innovation. 

Research design

Teams within several sectors of industry and trade will be surveyed using both questionnaire and social network approaches to shared leadership, with both team leaders and team members providing data to avoid common source bias. Hypothesis testing will be done using structural equation modelling. 

Publications

Tillmann, S., & Boerner, S. (2016). Diversity as an antecedent of shared leadership: The mediating role of transactive memory systems. Paper accepted for presentation at the 76th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Anaheim, California.

References

Wang, D., Waldman, D. A., & Zhang, Z. (2014). A meta-analysis of shared leadership and team effectiveness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(2), 181–198.

van Knippenberg, D., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Homan, A. C. (2004). Work group diversity and group performance: an integrative model and research agenda. The Journal of applied psychology, 89(6), 1008–1022. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.89.6.1008 

Nicolaides, V. C., LaPort, K. A., Chen, T. R., Tomassetti, A. J., Weis, E. J., Zaccaro, S. J., & Cortina, J. M. (2014). The shared leadership of teams: A meta-analysis of proximal, distal, and moderating relationships. The Leadership Quarterly. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.06.006. 

Denis, J.-L., Langley, A., & Sergi, V. (2012). Leadership in the Plural. The Academy of Management Annals, 6(1), 211–283. doi:10.1080/19416520.2012.667612 

D'Innocenzo, L., Mathieu, J. E., & Kukenberger, M. R. (2014). A meta-analysis of different forms of shared leadership-team performance relations. Journal of Management. doi:10.1177/0149206314525205 

Leadership studies: Shared leadership

The research project „Shared Leadership” deals with shared leadership in teams and examine the possibilities of employee involvement to the management process . The project is carried out by Sebastian Tillmann as part of his dissertation and supervised by Prof. Dr. Boerner.

Further Reading on the Shared Leadership Study.

„IndiKon“ – Integrative Steuerung von Visible und Invisible Colleges

Das Projekt „IndiKon“ befasst sich mit der Konfiguration von Leistungsindikatoren in der Wissenschaft. Das BMBF geförderte Projekt wurde von Frau Isabel Bögner im Rahmen ihrer Dissertation in Kooperation mit der Universität Hamburg und der Zeppelin Universität durchgeführt und unter der Leitung von Prof. Dr. Jetta Frost, Prof. Dr. Rick Vogel und Prof. Dr.Dr.h.c.mult. Alfred Kieser betreut.

Blog: http://www.science-studies.com

Ziel und Fragestellung

Gesamtziel des Verbundvorhabens ist die Entwicklung von Konfigurationen verschiedener Leistungsindikatoren zur integrativen Steuerung von Visible und Invisible Colleges. Damit verfolgen wir drei Ziele: Erstens wollen wir integrative Konfigurationen bestehender und neuer Indikatoren definieren, die grundsätzlich geeignet sind, intendierte Steuerungswirkungen zu erzielen und Steuerungsparadoxien wie z. B. nichtintendierte Wirkungen zu vermeiden. Zweitens wollen wir die Konfigurationen zu Indikatoren-Sets kombinieren und so gestalten, dass sie mit bewährten bestehenden Indikatoren in Forschung, Lehre und Verwaltung kompatibel sind (Indikatoren-Fit). Drittens sollen die Konfigurationen mit Strategien, Strukturen und Prozessen verträglich sein (Design-Fit)

Wissenschaftliche Arbeitsziele des Forschungsvorhabens sind:

  1. die verhaltenswissenschaftliche Erklärung von Funktionen und Dysfunktionen leistungsorientierter Steuerungsverfahren und damit eine Mikrofundierung der universitären Governance-Forschung;
  2. die theoretische Rekonzeptualisierung des Leistungsbegriffs in der Wissenschaft durch Reflexion der Bedeutung von Invisible Colleges in wissenschaftlichen Innovationsprozessen;
  3. die empirische Analyse von Wechselwirkungen zwischen Visible und Invisible Colleges und die Ableitung integrativer Konfigurationen von Leistungsindikatoren für die Wissenschaft.

Publikationen

Hattke, F., Bögner, I., & Vogel, R. (forthcoming): (Why) do you trust your reviewers? Influence behaviors, trustworthiness, and commitment to peer review. Managementforschung (MF).

Bögner, Isabel & Hattke, Fabian (2016): Open Post-Publication-Peer-Review: Eine Alternative zur doppelt-blinden Begutachtung in Fachzeitschriften? Hochschulmanagement 11(3), 69-74.

Bögner, Isabel; Petersen, Jessica & Kieser Alfred (2016): Is it possible to assess progress in science? In: Frost, J.; Hattke, F. & Reihlen, M. (Hrsg.): Multilevel governance in universities, Dordrecht, Springer, 215-231.

Paradoxical leadership in ever-changing organizations

Background and Goals

Recent research on ambidextrous leadership (Bledow, Frese, Anderson, Erez, & Farr, 2009; Gebert & Kearney, 2011; Rosing, Frese, & Bausch, 2011) and paradoxical leadership (Lavine, 2014; Smith, Besharov, Wessels, & Chertok, 2012) is a promising new direction for research on effective leadership in innovative and ever-changing organizational environments. However, as those two concepts are similar but still distinct and there are different approaches within ambidextrous leadership (Gebert & Kearney, 2011; Rosing et al., 2011), thorough concept definition and measurement is needed to establish a systematical research program on this promising direction of leadership.
In this research project we first develop an integrated conceptualization of paradoxical leadership. Second, we develop and test a measurement instrument for use in applied field research. Third, we will investigate the mechanisms that tie paradoxical leadership to performance in ever-changing environments.

Collaboration and Funding

This project, sponsored by the Zukunftskolleg Mentorship Program 2014, is conducted together with Prof. Daan van Knippenberg (Rotterdam School of Management).

Selected Literature

Bledow, R., Frese, M., Anderson, N., Erez, M., & Farr, J. (2009). A dialectic perspective on innovation: Conflicting demands, multiple pathways, and ambidexterity. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2, 305–337.

Gebert, D., & Kearney, E. (2011). Ambidextre Führung. Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie A&O, 55(2), 74–87. doi:10.1026/0932-4089/a000043 

Smith, W. E., Besharov, M. L., Wessels, A. K., & Chertok, M. (2012). A paradoxical leaderhsip model for social entrepreneurs: Challenges, leadership skills, and pedagoical tools for managing social and commercial demands. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(3), 463–478.

Sparr, J. L., & Peus, C. (2014, September). Ambidextrous leadership and employee change responses over the course of change: exploring the role of fairness perceptions. Paper accepted for presentation at the 49th Congress of the DGPs (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie), Bochum, Germany.

Diversity and team innovation: The moderating role of transformational leadership

Purpose

The overall aim of this research project is to investigate the promise of transformational leadership in fostering the innovativeness of diverse teams. Informationally diverse teams (i.e., teams whose members differ with regard to their knowledge, skills, and abilities) constitute an essential building block of many organizations, particularly in the areas of product development and research and development. The expectation on the part of the organizations is that the heterogeneous perspectives, skills, and knowledge of the diverse team members lead to an improved overall team innovativeness. However, this expectation cannot be confirmed by extant empirical research; rather, positive, negative, as well as non-significant effects of various attributes of informational diversity on team innovation can be found. Against this background, the analysis of critical contextual conditions (i.e., moderators) appears to be of particular relevance for fostering innovation in diverse teams. At the same time, leadership has only marginally been examined in this context; thus, this research project aims at investigating the moderating role of transformational leadership in informationally diverse teams. In particular, on the basis of the identification of intervening group processes between informational diversity and team innovation (i.e., mediators) the moderating role of transformational leadership is scrutinized. Thereby, transformational leadership appears to be a particularly promising approach since its innovation-enhancing potential has already been demonstrated in other contexts. The guiding question of this research project is: Does informational diversity have a positive impact on team innovation under high levels of transformational leadership?

Research design

For an empirical examination of the theoretical model, research and development teams as well as product development teams from different branches will be surveyed. Data will be gathered from both leaders and members of the teams under investigation. Hypotheses will be tested using multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling.

Publications

Hüttermann, H., & Boerner, S. (2011). Fostering innovation in functionally diverse teams: The two faces of transformational leadership. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 20(6), 833-854.

Döring, S., Schreiner, M., & Hüttermann, H. (2010, August). Constructing a collective identity in diverse teams. Paper presented at the 2010 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montréal, QC. (Emerald Best Student Paper Award, Academy of Management GDO Divison)

Hüttermann, H., & Boerner, S. (2009, August). Functional diversity and team innovation: The moderating role of transformational leadership. Paper presented at the 2009 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

Strategic management in public sector cultural organisations. An empirical analysis of visitors' experiences in theatre

Although the German theatre landscape is unique with respect to its concentration and plurality, theatre as a public organization does not play a decisive role in management research. This fact is surprising since the people- and cost-intensive organization ‘theatre’ is increasingly pressured to gain legitimacy due to shrinking government funds. New ways to intensify customer orientation are thus called for. However, up to now neither management nor theatre research were able to present a concept to analyse audience’s judgments of a theatre visit.

Goals

The aim of this research project is to analyse the audience’s judgments of a theatre visit. Hereby, the determinants of the audience’s overall enjoyment and their relationship between each other are of special interest. Building on literature in services and performing arts marketing and integrating insights from theatre reception studies, audience’s judgments of theatre visits are considered on the basis of both qualitative and quantitative field studies. Based on the expected results, implications for decision-making in cultural policy and for the strategic management of theatre companies are drawn. Furthermore, we attempt to close a gap in reception research.

Research Questions

Question 1: Which are the determinants of visitors’ overall enjoyment in theatre?

Question 2: What is the relationship of these determinants?

Question 3: Which variables can be used to divide the audience into homogeneous segments?

Publications

Boerner, S., Moser, V., & Jobst, J. (2011). Evaluating cultural industries: Investigating visitors’ satisfaction in theater. Service Industries Journal, 31(6), 877-895.

Jobst, J., & Boerner, S. (2011). Understanding customer satisfaction in opera. First steps toward a model. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 16(1), 50-69. 

Boerner, S., Jobst, J., & Wiemann, M. (2010). Exploring the theatrical experience - Results from an empirical investigation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4(3), 173-180.

Jobst, J. (2010). Die Anwendung der Stakeholder-Analyse im Kulturbereich. Ein empirischer Beitrag. Unpublished Working Paper. University of Konstanz.

Jobst, J., Boerner, S., & Wiemann, M. (2010, August). What do spectators of theater performances experience? Investigating the theatrical event. 21st Biennial Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics. Dresden, Germany.

Boerner, S., & Jobst, J. (2009). Unsichtbare Hauptrolle: Zur Bedeutung des Opernorchesters aus Sicht der Zuschauer. Das Orchester, 1, 34-38.

Boerner, S., & Jobst, J. (2008). The perception of artistic quality in opera. Results from a field study. Journal of New Music Research, 37(3), 233-245.

Boerner, S., & Renz, S. (2008). Performance measurement in theatre companies – comparing subjective quality judgements of experts and non experts in opera. International Journal of Arts Management, 10(3), 21-37.

Boerner, S., Neuhoff, H., Renz, S., & Moser, V. (2008). Evaluation in music theatre: Empirical results on content and structure of the audience’s quality judgment. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 26(1), 15-35.

Boerner, S., & Jobst, J. (2008, August). Good taste, bad taste, same taste? Comparing experts’ and non-experts’ judgments on opera. 20th Congress of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, Chicago IL.

Jobst, J., & Boerner, S. (2008, August). The enjoyment in opera – an empirical study of visitors´experience in music theatre. International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, Sapporo, Japan.

Realizing positive diversity effects in strategic decision making processes in top-management-teams: A conflict-theoretical perspective

Purpose

A heterogeneous composition (diversity) of top management teams (TMTs) has been shown to exert positive as well as negative effects on team performance and organizational success. An example for the positive effects of diversity is an increased variety of perspectives in contrast to homogenous teams, which positively influences the process of information processing. Negative effects of diversity like social categorization impede communication and cooperation within the team. This project analyzes how the negative effects of diversity can be diminished by parallel homogenisation of other diversity dimensions, thereby leading to a predominance of positive effects. It will be examined whether TMTs that show both a heterogeneous structure in terms of task-related criteria (e.g. functional diversity) and homogeneity regarding non-task-related criteria (e.g. age and gender) generate an overall positive effect on the quality of their decisions and finally lead to organizational success. Between the criteria and outcome variables, group processes are modeled as mediators to explore the specific effects of diversity criteria on the decision quality in TMTs. In particular, workgroup conflicts such as task-related and relationship conflicts are considered to be of particular relevance for the decision quality of TMTs. Environmental dynamics are considered as a contextual condition: The more environmental dynamics, the more positive are the effects of a heterogeneous TMT composition expected to be.

Research design

A survey of top management teams is planned to test thehypotheses. Data will be aggregated on the group level and then tested using regression analysis.

Publications

Boerner, S., Schäffner, M., & Gebert, D. (2012): The Complementarity of Cross-Functional Communication and Team Meetings: Empirical evidence from New Services Development Teams. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 19(2), 245-264.

Gebert, D., Schäffner, M., Kearney, E., & Boerner, S. (2008, August). The influence of team meetings and cross-functional communication on team performance. Paper presented at the 2008 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA.

Gebert, D., Boerner, S., & Kearney, E. (2006, August). Conflict management in cross-functional teams. Paper presented at the 2006 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia.

Gebert, D., Boerner, S., Kearney, E., & Lanwehr, R. (2006, July). The co-existence of opposites as a condition for the enhancement of innovations. Paper presented at the EGOS Conference, Bergen, Norway.

Gebert, D., Boerner, S., & Kearney, E. (2006). Crossfunctionality and innovation in new product development teams: The dynamics of the dilemmatic structure and consequences for the management of diversity. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 15(4), 431–458.

Charismatic leadership and performance in public health organizations

Surveying 1000 employees from the medical and nursing staff of six public and private-sector hospitals, this projects investigates the effects of charismatic leaderhip on performance. Thereby, special emphasis is put on the examination of mediators (e.g., organizational citizenship behavior) and moderators (e.g., stress, job control) of the relationship between charismatic leadership and performance.

Study 1: Charismatic Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behavior - Examining the Role of Stressors and Strain

In this study we analyzed the impact of followers’ stress on the relationship between charismatic leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). We distinguished between stressors as the objective component of work-stress and strain as the subjective component of work-stress. We assumed that stressors will moderate the relationship between charismatic leadership and OCB (Hypothesis 1). In addition, we hypothesized that followers’ strain will mediate the relationship between charismatic leadership and OCB (Hypothesis 2). Results from a study interviewing n = 142 nurses from three German hospitals only confirmed our second hypothesis: Followers’ strain fully mediated the relationship between charismatic leadership and followers’ OCB.

Study 2: The Impact of Charismatic Leadership on Change-Oriented Behavior – A Study in German Hospitals

Objectives: The aims of the study were to investigate charismatic leadership as a means to enhance change-oriented behavior in hospitals. We hypothesized that both employees’ job autonomy and stress in the workplace will moderate the positive relationship between charismatic leadership and followers’ change-oriented behavior.

Study design: We investigated 543 members of medical staff (physicians and nurses) in six German hospitals by using a questionnaire.

Methods: The hypotheses were tested by hierarchical regression analyses, interpreting main effects and interactions effects.

Results: Charismatic leadership significantly predicted followers’ change-oriented behavior. Moreover, our study confirmed the moderating effect of job autonomy. However, the moderating effect of followers’ stress was not confirmed in our data.

Conclusions: First, the results of our investigation point at the positive impact that charismatic leaders have on followers’ change-oriented behavior in the hospital. One suggestion for supervisor development from this is not only to provide professional training, but to intensify efforts in training specialized on charismatic leadership. Second, in order to support followers’ participation in change processes, hospital managers should consider if and how the degree of followers` job autonomy can be enhanced.

Publications

Boerner, S., & Duetschke, E. (2008): The Impact of charismatic leadership on followers' initiative-oriented behavior – a study in German Hospitals. Health Care Management Review, 33 (4), 332-340.

Boerner, S., Duetschke, E., & Wied, S. (2008): Charismatic leadership and organizational citizenship behavior: Examining the role of stress and strain. Human Resource Development International, Vol. 11, No. 5, 507–521.

Boerner, S., Duetschke, E., & Schwämmle, A (2005): Freiwillig mehr tun? Organizational Citizenship Behavior im Krankenhaus – ein Vergleich zwischen Ärzten und Pflegekräften. Das Gesundheitswesen, 67, 770–776.

The impact of transformational leadership on team innovation - An empirical study in research and development teams

Purpose

The aim of this research project is to identify critical factors that contribute to the innovativeness of research and development teams. As predictors for team innovation, transformational leadership communication processes within the team, trust, cohesion, and specific aspects of the innovation climate will be investigated. Furthermore, impediments of innovation in research and development teams will be identified; thereby, a special focus lies on possible negative secondary effects of transformational leadership. In summary, this study aims at investigating the influence of transformational leadership on team innovation, thereby including the above mentioned variables as mediators and moderators into a comprehensive model. The following research questions are to be answered:

What are the positive effects of transformational leadership on the individual creativity of team members and team innovation? What are the negative effects of transformational leadership on the individual creativity of team members and team innovation? Under which circumstances (i.e., moderators) and based on which group processes (i.e., mediators) do positive effects of transformational leadership on team innovation prevail?

Research design

To examine the theoretical model, 71 research and development teams working in international companies and in different industries will be surveyed via online questionnaires. The unit of analysis is the team. Data will be gathered for each team by the respective leader as well as the team members. Hypotheses will be tested using regression analysis, structural equation modelling, and path models.

Publications

Eisenbeiß, S., & Boerner, S. (2010). Transformational Leadership and R & D Innovation: Taking a Curvilinear Approach. Creativity & Innovation Management, 19 (4), 364-372.

Eisenbeiß, S., van Knippenberg, D., & Boerner, S. (2008). Transformational Leadership and Team Innovation: Integrating Transformational Leadership and Team Climate Models. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93 (6), 1438-1446.

Boerner, S., & Eisenbeiß, S. (2008, May). Leading creative minds: Take it or leave it. 8th EURAM Conference, Ljubljana.

Boerner, S., & Eisenbeiß, S. (2008, August). Innovation in R & D teams: Does leadership really matter? Academy of Management 2008 Meeting, Anaheim, California.

Eisenbeiß, S., & Boerner, S. (submitted). All that Glitters is not Gold: The Two Sides of Transformational Leadership.

Extra-role behavior in flexible employment

Purpose

Today’s labor market faces a gradual but accelerating growth of non-traditional, flexible employment arrangements (e.g. temporary workers, freelancers). Although there has been some research on flexible employment, most of it still relates to the traditional full-time worker.

From an organizational point of view, it is especially important to learn more about the factors that influence extra-role behaviors of flexible workers. Extra-role behavior is defined as „individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization”.

This research project thus focuses on predictors of extra-role behaviors for flexible workers. A pilot study based on in-depth interviews with flexible workers indicated that workers’ preference for flexible work may be an important variable to consider. Additionally, the impact of several commitment foci as well as instrumentality beliefs are analyzed.

Research design

Using online questionnaires a sample of 360 flexible workers was surveyed regarding predictors of extra-role behaviors. An additional sample (n=200) was gathered to identify predictors for preference for flexible work.

Publications

Dütschke, E., & Boerner, S. (2009). Flexible Employment as a Unidirectional Career? Results from field experiments. Management Revue, 20(1), 15-33.

Dütschke, E. (2008, September). Flexible workers and their willingness to show extra-role behaviour. Paper accepted for presentation at Ph.D. Workshop on Perspectives on (Un-) Employment, IAB, Nürnberg.

Dütschke, E., & Boerner, S. (2008, July). Preference for flexible work – why do workers seek a non-traditional career? Paper accepted at the 24th EGOS Conference, Amsterdam.

Dütschke, E. (2008, May). Flexible workers and their willingness to show extra-role behaviour. Paper presented at the Workshop on Research Advances in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management, University of Toulouse.

Dütschke, E. (2008, Februar). Arbeiten außerhalb des Normalarbeitsverhältnisses. Vortrag bei der Tagung "Konstruierte Norm[alität][en] – normale Abweichung[en]", Konstanz.

Dütschke, E., & Boerner, S. (2007, September). Chancen auf Festanstellung nach flexibler Beschäftigung – erste Ergebnisse eines Feldexperiments. Herbst-Workshop der Kommission „Personal“ im Deutschen Hochschullehrerverband, Mühlheim.

Dütschke, E., Boerner, S., & Appel, F. (2007, Juli). Dancing style and dancing partners – The impact of a boundaryless career on future employment chances. Paper presented at the EGOS Conference, Wien.

Dütschke, E., & Boerner, S. (submitted): Why do flexible workers engage in Extra-Role Behavior?

Dütschke, E., & Boerner, S. (submitted): Zweite Wahl, Selbstverwirklichung oder Zwischenweg? Eine Studie zur Präferenz flexibler Beschäftigung.

 Research goals

 Today’s labor market faces a gradual but accelerating growth of non-traditional, flexible employment arrangements (e.g. temporary workers, freelancers). Although there has been some research on flexible employment, most of it still relates to the traditional full-time worker.

From an organizational point of view, it is especially important to learn more about the factors that influence extra-role behaviors of flexible workers. Extra-role behavior is defined as „individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization”.

This research project thus focuses on predictors of extra-role behaviors for flexible workers. A pilot study based on in-depth interviews with flexible workers indicated that workers’ preference for flexible work may be an important variable to consider. Additionally, the impact of several commitment foci as well as instrumentality beliefs are analyzed.

 Approach

Using online questionnaires a sample of 360 flexible workers was surveyed regarding predictors of extra-role behaviors. An additional sample (n=200) was gathered to identify predictors for preference for flexible work.

Fostering team innovation: Why is it important to combine opposing action strategies?

Purpose

To foster team innovation, several authors have recommended the combination of opposing action strategies (e.g., Brown & Eisenhardt, 1997). However, the reasoning behind this recommendation is not always made explicit and, even if it is, the reasoning is focused on the specific strategies being advocated. Thus, the extant literature does not provide a framework that explicates why the combination of opposing action strategies may be a generally useful approach. To address this gap in the literature, we develop an overarching framework that explains how combining different opposing action strategies may benefit team innovation via the same general mechanisms. Our model aims to leverage past and guide future research. We conceptualize opposing action strategies as open and closed measures. Both open and closed strategies, when implemented by themselves without their respective opposite, are connected with innovation-enhancing as well as innovation-impeding effects that may offset each other. Simultaneously deploying open and closed strategies, however, can resolve this dilemma and thus foster team innovation. Firstly, the desired effects of each strategy promote team innovation directly. At the same time, these desired effects moderate the (positive) relationship between the desired and the undesired effects of the respective opposite strategy such that this relationship becomes weaker. This moderation effect enables the necessary preponderance of innovation-enhancing effects. Secondly, the preponderance of innovation-enhancing effects alleviates the danger of an escalation of the negative effects of either strategy. We therefore propose that opposing action strategies are mutually dependent and in this sense complementary.

(in cooperation with Korea University and Jacobs-University Bremen)

Publications

Gebert, D., & Boerner, S. (submitted). Ambidexterity in Small and Medium-Sized Firms: Opportunities and Barriers.

Gebert, D., Boerner, S., & Kearney, E. (2010). Fostering team innovation: Why is it important to combine opposing action strategies? Organization Science, 21, 593-608.

Gebert, D., & Boerner, S. (2008, December). Ambidexterity in Small and Medium-Sized Firms: Oportunities and Barriers. Paper Presentd at the Milagrow - World SME Conference 2008, New Dehli.

Gebert, D., Boerner, S., Kearney, E., & Lanwehr, R. (2006, August). Fostering team innovativeness through opening and closing measures. Paper presented at the Academy of Management 2006 Meeting, Atlanta.

Transformational leadership and performance - An analysis of intervening mechanisms

Purpose and research design

While the relationship between transformational leadership (Bass & Avolio, 1994) and various aspects of leadership effectiveness have been subject to a rich body of empirical research, the analysis of interving mechanisms between this leadership style and outcomes has been given rather little attention. Transformational leadership enables followers to reach performance "beyond expecations" (Bass, 1985). While past research has concentrated on variables like trust, cohesion, self-efficacy, and satisfaction as mediators, the behavior of the followers has not been investigated so far. This research project aims at filling this gap in research. Surveying a sample of 91 leaders, the following hypotheses concerning the performance and innovativeness of organizations are tested:

Hypothesis 1: Controversial discussions among followers (debate) is a mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and innovation.

Hypothesis 2: Organizational Citizenship Behavior of the followers (OCB) is a mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and performance.

Publications

Boerner, S., Eisenbeiß, S., & Griesser, D. (2007). Follower behavior and organizational performance: The impact of transformational leaders. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 13 (3), 15-26.

Boerner, S., Eisenbeiß, S., & Griesser, D. (2006, August). Transformational leadership and organizational performance: The mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior and debate. Paper presented at the 2006 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia.

Development of a mission statement for the transnational cooperation "Internationale Bodenseekonferenz (IBK)"

The ”Internationale Bodenseekonferenz (IBK)” is an association of the federal states and cantons of Germany, Switzerland and Austria which are connected to or bordering the Lake Constance: Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Schaffhausen, Zürich, Thurgau, St. Gallen, Appenzell Außerrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Fürstentum Liechtenstein and Vorarlberg. Pivotal objectives of the IBK are the preservation and development of the region around Lake Constance with the aim of creating an attractive area for living, nature, culture and economy as well as strengthening regional integration. For this purpose, a mission statement was formulated by the IBK in 1994, which included the main goals of the IBK members.

In December 1995, the heads of governments represented in the IBK decided to renew and redefine the mission statement. Prof. Dr. Sabine Boerner, holding the Chair of Management (Strategy & Leadership) at the University of Konstanz, and Prof. Dr. Markus Freitag, holding the Chair of Comparative Politics at the University of Konstanz, were mandated to scientifically support the development process for the renewed mission statement.

The existing mission statement was refined and further developed in workshops and focus groups in which both members of the IBK and external stakeholders were working together. The final version of the renewed mission statement of the IBK was presented in June 2008 after the completion of public hearings in March 2008. In addition to Prof. Dr. Sabine Boerner and Prof. Dr. Markus Freitag, the university project team was completed by Elisabeth Dütschke, as research associate, and by Hendrik Hüttermann.